Forgotten Fables

Unfamiliar sounds and scents wafted over Odette as she came to, surprised to find that she was standing on her own two feet. It was clear she hadn't been asleep, yet the dense fog of slumber seemed to loom heavily over her thoughts. Dappled sunlight danced on the earthen floor of the forest as the canopy above swayed in the wind. The fog of unconsciousness was now starting to lift, replaced by shock and confusion.

Where am I? Odette asked herself, taking in her surroundings. She was entranced by bioluminescent mushrooms with radiant, purple halos and golden moss that blanketed the rocks and trees. Everywhere she looked, there seemed to be a new, even more fascinating species. Oddete was inspecting a massive fern frond, as tall as she was and shimmering blue, when she was interrupted by the sound of something approaching. Startled and uncertain, she considered trying to hide but decided to hold her ground.

A short creature, no more than 4 feet tall with fluffy, ginger hair stepped out from the foliage, revealing a bottom half like that of a deer or a goat. All it's fur was ginger, just like the hair on it's head, except for the white spots that freckled its flanks. From it's head grew two small antlers and fuzzy deer ears to match the legs. A faun? It spotted Odette immediately, as if it had been looking for her, and called out in a cheerful voice. "Odette! I can't believe you're actually here!"

The faun sprinted towards her jubilantly and Odette recoiled, suspicious of this eager stranger. "How do you know my name?" She demanded, trying to create an air of authority but failing spectacularly as she stumbled over her own hair. She recovered her composure- and most of her dignity- and looked into the creature's eyes, hoping whatever intimidation she had over them was still intact.

The creature tried to stifle a laugh that sounded like a chittering squirrel and sniffed Odette unabashedly. "Well, it's definitely you! I can't believe you've finally accepted our invitation."

Our invitation? Just then, a second creature stepped forward out of the brush. It looked like a bat but quite large, the height of a grown human man, and covered in beautiful white feathers with silver markings. It had two pairs of wings which Odette guessed functioned in tandem, with the first pair serving as arms and the second being for flight. She recalled meeting the effigy of foresight once who'd had similar wings.

"Greetings. You must be Odette, the western wind. It's an honor," it said in a deep, soothing voice, bowing it's head respectfully. It's face scrunched up in stern annoyance and it kicked the faun, urging it to do the same. But it simply ignored the bat-like creature, bouncing up and down on its hooves with barely contained excitement.

The bat-like creature rolled its eyes in acceptance and continued. "My name is Shade and I go by he/him pronouns. This is my partner Fox," he said, gesturing with one wing, "and ve goes by ve/ver pronouns."

"It would be ever so gracious of you to attend our annual festival in your honor, the Droughts-end Feast." Odette was too busy trying to process everything that was happening to consider the offer just yet- and did he just say in her honor?

"I don't understand..." was all she could formulate.

Fox insisted. "You have to come! Everyone's been waiting for you to attend for years and there'll be lots of food like apple crispers and honey blackberry fritters and portobello pies- oo! And there'll be fireworks and singing and dancing and-" Shade cleared his throat loudly, interrupting ver rant in the hopes of clarifying.

"You may not remember, due to the unfortunate side effect of memory loss from the portal, but many years ago, our people, the Farins, were in grave trouble- creatures we called the Drought-bringers had invaded our world, destroying our land and water and killing many unfortunate souls. We searched far and wide, pleading with any entity we could find to help us but none would listen. Just as we had nearly lost hope, you answered our prayers and saved us. You brought about a large rain storm to flood the Drought-bringers out of their burrows and heal our parched land." Shade looked Odette in the eyes with genuine gratitude. "We are forever in your debt."

"Yeah, and now we have a big party every year so we never forget how BADASS you were!" Fox added proudly. Shade lost his composure at that, struggling to hold in his laughter. He smiled warmly at Fox and gave ver a friendly nudge with his forewing.

Odette was taken aback by the story- she wasn't sure she believed it but it was certainly possible. She was uncomfortable with the sort of reverence Shade had shown her but seeing him lighten up a little around Fox gave her hope that maybe he wouldn't be like that the rest of the day. "Hmm..." The effigy pondered. "Perhaps I will oblige. Thank you for your invitation." Odette told herself that the reason she'd accepted the offer was just because she had been feeling down lately and needed a reason to celebrate, but the truth was she was just trying to avoid the guilt. There was always this wave of guilt she felt whenever she was distrustful or suspicous, always feeling that trust should be the default and distrust needed to be earned- not the other way around.

"YAYYY!" Fox exclaimed with unconcealed glee. Odette might have thought ve were a child if it weren't for her knowledge of fauns. While white spots are typically a sign of immaturity in regular deer, the reverse was actually true for fauns. But although Fox seemed childish and rowdy, Odette couldn't help but feel a fondness towards the little creature, as if ve reminded her of someone she knew.

"Wonderful!" Shade echoed Fox's sentiments with a bit more maturity but he couldn't keep from subtly ruffling his feathers from anticipation.

Fox flicked an ear impatiently and led Odette in the direction ve had come from, pulling the foliage out of the way to reveal a path through the woods. They walked for several minutes before they reached a gently flowing brook and crossed on stepping stones. It was surprisingly effortless to get accross but Odette still had to carry her long, white hair in a bundle so the ends didn't get wet (sopping wet hair would attract all sorts of debris and often caused fiercely troublesome tangles) or snag on jagged rocks. From then on, the path was different- no longer simply trodden dirt but now a well-maintained road illuminated by small lanterns which sat on the ground off to the side.

A thick wall of vines draped over the branches of trees towering overhead, like a living doorway. Fox and Shade stepped forward to part the vines for Odette, who was stricken by the beauty and complexity of what lay on the other side. Spiral staircases snaked up trees, leading to intricate tree houses, gazebos, and hanging platforms connected by rope bridges. There were strings of warm lights hanging off of every bough and railing and everywhere she looked, there were creatures bustling about enjoying the festivities. A few of them appeared to be the same species as Fox or Shade but there were numerous others too.

As Odette was led to the largest tree house in the center of the clearing, a fire sprite nearly singed her coat as it walked past, but she was too enamored with this idyllic new world to care. She spotted mermaids with four arms and insect-like wings swimming together in a pond, their colorful scales reflecting the lights that hung overhead. There were cat-like creatures that walked on two legs, small dragons that breathed fire and ice, weaving the two together artistically for an audience, and furry creatures like large weasels merrily playing flutes and piccolos.

There were so many vendors- some selling the food that Fox had sounded so excited about earlier and others selling colorful kites, wind chimes, festive fans, and various other things, all relating to wind in one way or another. One stand in particular caught Odette's eye- it wasn't a typical vendor but rather a small display of pop-up books. Since it appeared that Shade and Fox were leading her past it, she decided to stop briefly and have a look. She was dissapointed to find that she couldn't read the language that was written on the pages and wondered to herself, a bit saddened, if she could ever learn this language, with the memory-wiping effects of the portal.

"Oh! This is the story of Droughts-end," Fox piped up, either not noticing or disregarding Odette's dismay. "Many years ago, the creatures of Fari were under threat from the Drought-bringers," ve read from the first display, which featured a drawing of a creature that looked like a large gopher but with sharp claws and teeth looming over some Farins. She may not have been able to read the pages herself but Odette was pleased to admire the art anyways. "The horrible creatures burrowed under our land, causing rockslides and pitfalls that left many injured- or worse." The second display depicted a Farin with a frightened expression falling into a pit. "Sometimes they would even attack us without provocation."

"Angered by the way that their burrows would flood anytime it rained, the drought-bringers built a ferocious machine- the Cloudeater." The next picture illustrated a large winged vehicle spewing fire into the sky and evaporating all of the clouds. Would that even work? Odette wondered but kept it to herself. She was unsure how much of this was literal and how much of it was just artistic liberty or legend.

"They must not have been the brightest if they thought to build a machine that evaporates clouds but not simply surface-level houses. Or even treehouses like we have!" Shade scoffed. He does have a point. How come they were technologically advanced enough to build a cloudeater yet they still lived in underground burrows? Odette thought, trying to push down the wave of guilt she felt for being critical and suspicous, even just in her thoughts. She tried to warn herself it was completely justified to be wary of new people, and especially of new information, but the nonsensical feelings persisted, as they always did.

"Well, maybe they just liked it better underground." Fox shrugged, clearly annoyed at being interrupted, and continued. "Soon, Fari was experiencing the worst drought ever recorded. Plants shriveled and died with no rain-" the display illustrated the land, sparsely covered in shriveled plants, "and every creature, from the smallest to the greatest, went thirsty."

"Our leaders looked far and wide for anyone who would help but they all ignored our pleas." Odette shifted uncomfortably as she noticed some of the figures that were depicted refusing the Farins help were effigies that she had known personally. "All but one. Odette, the western wind, came to our aid when we were all but out of hope." Odette marveled at the depiction of a stoic woman with long, white hair blowing in the wind. She knew it was supposed to be a drawing of her, yet she felt odd and disconnected looking at it. She couldn't help but feel it was somehow innaccurate, with the knowledge that she could never measure up to this charicature of virtue- this symbol that merely resembled her. "With a mighty gust of wind, she destroyed the abominable cloudeater and summoned rain clouds overhead. It poured and poured until the drought-bringers were flooded out of their burrows and left for good. The land was no longer dry. We all rejoiced, dancing and singing, splashing in rain puddles and drinking greedily. We had been saved!" 

The image of that last pop-up display lingered in Odette's head like a swarm of mosquitos, buzzing loudly in her mind and feeding on her thoughts. There were, of course, the Farins, dancing happilly in the downpour. But there was something else too- Drought-bringers being flooded out of their homes. The Drought-bringers in the drawing looked upset but unharmed, yet Odette knew there would have been deadly consequences to her actions against them, even if she hadn't killed them directly. No creature can be expected to live long when there's nowhere they're welcome. She already had crimes she could hardly stand remembering- having ones she was destined to forget as well would simply be unbearable.

Odette began to spiral in her thoughts, the world around her dissapearing as the terrifying world inside her became more real. She tried to ground herself but when she looked down to find her feet, it was like all she could see was emptiness.

Nothing tethering her to reality.

No way to control her descent.

The frantic effigy felt a soft hand on her shoulder and the momentary distraction was enough to bring just a shard of the ground beneath her back. "Hey. Are you okay?" Odette was surprised to find Fox looking down at her with concern in ver ebony eyes. Apparently in her panic, she had slid to the floor- perhaps trying to confirm it was still there. "Yes. Yes, quite," she replied. Shade helped her stand up and she dusted herself off, ashamed to have been seen like that. "No, you're not," Fox stated, matter-of-factly. "Excuse me...?" Odette felt nauseous with anxiety and she made a mental note that the faun was much more perceptice than ve seemed. "It's okay. We invited you here to have fun- not to perform," Fox smiled encouragingly as ve spoke, suddenly seeming much older. "We've already got lots of creatures handling the entertainment today. Would you like to see?" Odette nodded, grateful for not only the distraction but also for Fox and Shade's understanding. Neither of them questioned her further about what had happened, figuring she'd talk about if she wanted to.

Odette had started engaging in the festivities just to indulge the Farins and distract herself but was surprised to find that she was actually staring to have a good time. She watched the dragons of fire and ice with Fox and Shade, learning that it was supposedly an artistic interpretation of the cloudeater. The show ended with a big finale as the two dragons faced each other head on, breathing plumes of flame and frosty shards of ice with all their strength. Slowly yet undeniably, the fire overtook the ice, turrning it all to mist which rained gently over the audience, who were now standing to give their applause. By the night's end, she had eaten more than her fill of fritters, fruits, and fried delicacies and had danced so much that her feet ached. Everyone seemed satisified, yet the atmosphere grew reluctant and mournful as the party started to wind down. It seemed they all knew what was coming next. Shade began opening the portal with his magic, swathes of golden-white light illuminating his wings. He focused intently on the images and sensations he wanted to evoke in his mind- Odette, a doorway... the feeling of home. Then when he was ready, he flapped his wings and the light shot forward with a gust of wind. The portal began swirling and growing larger until a verdant meadow appeared on the other side- Odette's home world.

"Odette..." Fox wandered closer, looking at ver feet. When ve looked up, it was the first time Odette had ever seen ver look sad. Or maybe it wasn't- she could hardly say for sure. "I hope we meet again, even if it has to be as strangers." Odette felt a pang of regret at the faun's words, considering, not for the first time, the implications of returning through the portal. "I won't forget." Odette proclaimed, surprised by the certainty in her voice. She had no reason to belive this, yet she did. She wanted to believe it. "Even when I walk through that portal and forget your names and faces, my belly will still be full of warm food, my feet will ache from dancing, and my face will be sore from smiling... and I won't have to remember. Because the proof of your kindness to me is not in my memories of you. It's somewhere that can't be erased." As she talked, she realized it was true and began to tear up at the thought. She had always been scared of forgetting, and secretly, of being forgotten too. A strange feeling was bubbling inside her, threatening to overflow, and just for a moment, she considered letting it. But instead she stifled her tears, said her goodbyes, and walked in the only direction she could; forward.